Editing Norin 10 wheat

{{Short description|Wheat cultivar}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2021}}
{{nihongo|'''Norin 10 wheat'''|小麦農林10号}} is a semi-dwarf [[wheat]] [[cultivar]] with very large ears that was [[Plant breeding|bred]] by {{Interlanguage link|Gonjiro Inazuka|lt=Gonjiro Inazuka|ja|稲塚権次郎}} at an [[Agricultural experiment station|experimental station]] in [[Iwate Prefecture]], [[Japan]]. Its parents were a semi-dwarf Japanese [[landrace]] that may have originated in Korea in the 3rd or 4th century AD, and two varieties from the USA.<ref name="Shindler 2016">{{cite web |last1=Shindler |first1=Miriam |title=From east Asia to south Asia, via Mexico: how one gene changed the course of history |url=https://www.cimmyt.org/news/from-east-asia-to-south-asia-via-mexico-how-one-gene-changed-the-course-of-history/ |website=CIMMYT |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref> In 1935 it was registered as a numbered cultivar by the Japanese [[Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Japan)|Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry]] {{nihongo||農林省|''Nōrin''shō}}. 

Norin 10 grew to just two feet (60 - 100 cm) tall, instead of the usual four (150 cm).<ref name="Shindler 2016" /> It provided two genes, ''Rht1'' and ''Rht2'', that resulted in reduced-height wheats, thus allowing better nutrient uptake and tillage, since when heavily fertilised with nitrogen, tall varieties grow too high, become top-heavy, and [[Lodging (agriculture)|lodge]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reitz |first1=L. P. |author2-link=Cecil Salmon |last2=Salmon |first2=S. C. |date=November 1968 |title=Origin, History, and Use of Norin 10 Wheat |url=https://www.soils.org/publications/cs/abstracts/8/6/CS0080060686 |journal=Crop Science |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=686–689 |doi=10.2135/cropsci1968.0011183X000800060014x |access-date=30 April 2014|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The ''Rht1'' and ''Rht2'' genes have been used in wheat breeding programmes worldwide to provide shorter plants with higher yields. [[Cecil Salmon]], a biologist and wheat expert on General [[Douglas MacArthur]]'s team in [[Japan]] after 1945, collected 16 varieties of wheat including Norin 10. He sent these seeds to [[Orville Vogel]] at [[Washington State University]] and they were used within USA breeding programmes in the 1950s.  Norin 10 was also provided to the [[International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center]] in Mexico. It was used here by [[Norman Borlaug]] and collaborators in crosses with local varieties to produce dwarf varieties that were also daylight-insensitive and had resistance to [[Stem rust|rust]] disease. These were subsequently distributed worldwide.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Borojevic |first1=Katarina |last2=Borojevic |first2=Ksenija |date=July–August 2005 |title=The Transfer and History of "Reduced Height Genes" (Rht) in Wheat from Japan to Europe |journal=[[Journal of Heredity]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |volume=96 |issue=4 |pages=455–459 |doi=10.1093/jhered/esi060 |doi-access=free }}</ref> These included high-output varieties tested in India (Lerma Rojo 64 and Sonora 64) during the [[Green Revolution]].<ref name="Shindler 2016" />

Norin 10 helped [[developing nations|developing countries]], such as India and Pakistan, to increase the productivity of their crops by approximately 60% during the [[Green Revolution]].

== See also ==
*[[Biodiversity]]
*[[Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://wheat.pw.usda.gov/cgi-bin/ace/tree/graingenes?name=Rht1%20(Triticum)&class=Gene Rht1 gene]
* [http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_VPNPPGN Ears of plenty: The story of wheat], [[The Economist]], December 20, 2005

{{Wheat}}

[[Category:Wheat cultivars]]